A Busy Day

Rebekah has had a busy day, following the busy night that Dad described to you. Her appointment at clinic was at 9 am this morning. As you can imagine, many of the nurses and staff dressed for Halloween - although I didn't see any "scary" costumes - probably a good thing. She was wandering around at clinic and Mary thought she needed a toy or hat. She seemed to want a hat a picked one out that had bears on one side and stars on the other. Before they will start Chemo, they want fluids running for at least 6 hours and then her urine has to not be too concentrated. They started fluids while we were still in clinic.

By 11 am we were in our room getting settled in. They put us back in the Isolation room that we were in during our last stay. Not because we need to be, but because it was the only Oncology room available. I keep asking if we can move, especially when I see another room opening up. No luck. Each time another room opened up, there was another child scheduled for it and they wouldn't move us. They don't want people to dislike the room and insist on changing. It is the best room for keeping germs away. But whey you have some ability to fight germs, the room isn't a necessity.

The TV wasn't working when we first got into the room. I asked the nurse if she knew why and she call facilities. They told her that there were people working on the tv system and that was probably why. It should be better in a little while, they said. Well, it still wasn't any better by dinner time, so we asked again. The maintenance guy came in and checked what he could, but couldn't easily find the answer. It probably had to wait until the people working on the tv system were back in tomorrow. Uugh! Well, apparently a TV not working was enough reason to move us to a different room. They had to clean the room, but as of a little after 8 pm we are in a "regular" room with a shower and room for a rocker/recliner and regular chair, too. It feels much better to be able to stretch out a little.

About noon, IV Therapy came in to change Rebekah's Central Line dressing. That is never something Rebekah wants as it hurts to take the 4 inch by 4 inch bandage. We opted to give her benadryl (since she needed it anyway for her runny nose) and wait a half hour or so to do the dressing change. IV Therapy came back about an hour later, when she was just about asleep, and changed it. She wasn't at all happy about it, but she is doing better than she used to do. She got Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eyeore stickers for her reasonably "good" behavior during the dressing change.

She went down for a chest xray as part of the standard treatment, not because they thought she needed one right now. She was asleep for the trip down, but had to be awake for the xray and sat up in her bed for the trip back up with big smiles on her face. She enjoys the rides in the bed.

Speech Therapy came in to see her and play. She always enjoys "play" time with the different therapists.

There was a halloween party in the classroom, so we stopped by there, too where Rebekah painted Daddy a picture, got a bag full of goodies and a poodle-skirt costume. Occupational Therapy caught us over checking out the costumes and asked if we were up for some Therapy. Since we were finishing up with the party we headed back to the room. The Occupational Therapist wanted to see how she did with dressing herself, so she helped Rebekah change into the costume (it is a dress). She wanted to wear the hat that she got earlier today at clinic. Not exactly the coordinated look that Mom might go for, but she was content and that is what matters most.



Once dressed up, she had to go for a walk and show off to the nurses. She took a lap around the ward, stopping in the Starlight Lounge and picking out a Magna Doodle type toy that she wanted to play with. We got it cleaned up and headed back to the room to play with it.

She played for a little while and then fell asleep. Pretty soon, it was time to start Chemo. This set of Chemo drugs run for two hours each day for 5 days and then she needs 24 hours of fluids after that.

Then there was cup cake decorating in the Starlight lounge, so we headed down there, too. She enjoyed decorating it, but didn't want to eat it.

Daddy stopped in a few times, Grandma C brought Mommy some lunch and all in all it was a busy time.

Here it is, after 10 pm and Rebekah is still awake. Her normal bed time is between 7 pm and 8 pm (with the time change maybe between 6 pm and 7 pm), so this is late. Not unusual for the hospital, but still leads to "crabby girl syndrome". Mommy turned off all the lights and the TV and I'm sitting in the dark typing, hoping that Rebekah will finally succomb to sleep. I'm sure that she needs it.

I know that I have rambled on and on, but I hope that I haven't bored any of you too much. Busy days at the hospital can help make it feel more "normal" and less hospital like. Rebekah enjoys the activities and all the different people coming to "play". With her counts up, she can be out of the room and enjoying some of the activities, which certainly helps. Just getting out for a walk or wagon ride or stroller ride can be a big boost for her attitude. It certainly feels good to have her "want" the activities and have the energy for them. We like seeing some high points, especially knowing that some low points will be coming again soon thanks to the round of chemo.